Proven
by Aranel Saerwen
Summary: Sequel to Constellations, Confrontations, and Confessions...Can Max trust Alec? Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Thanks to all of you who reviewed the prequel to this story 'Constellations, Confrontations, and Confessions'. This sequel is dedicated to those who asked for it. Hope it meets your expectations and that all of you who read it enjoy. **

**Proven**

By Aranel du Lac

I. Handicap

The cabin seemed much smaller after that night. _Oh, so much smaller_. Max avoided Alec, her zeal only adding salt to the wound of rejection left on his X5 heart. Alec tried to make it easier by making himself scarce – not only for her sake but for his own as well. If he looked at her, listened to her - damn! if he so much as smelled her - he was sent grappling for control over his tumbling emotions and animalistic impulses, something that didn't help their situation. It was like walking on eggshells, and, despite his cat DNA, Alec did not have the lightest of footsteps when it came to relationships.

_Why does the universe hate us X5s? _He wondered just as Max came in the door bearing four bulging brown bags, keys dangling from her mouth, as she struggled to close the door while balancing her awkward load. Alec remained where he was, sprawled on the couch with a book - still on the same page as an hour ago - unsure of whether to help or not, given the static energy that increased upon the female transgenic's arrival. But one look from Max, her eyes telling him 'move your ass and help me', had him jumping over the back of the sofa to grab one of the bags before she dropped it.

With a smirk that couldn't be helped, he plucked the keys out of her mouth.

"Have fun at the store?" he quipped, heading for the kitchen.

"Shut up." she said, elbowing him as she passed him. Alec let her, maintaining his saunter, trying hard to uphold his impervious front as she walked away from him – _In true Max fashion_. He sat the bag on the counter of the island and leaned against the granite; soaking in its cool hardness, as she unloaded the groceries.

"So, honey, what's for dinner?" he plucked a can of spaghetti out of the bag in front of him and frowned at the picture of red marinara sauce and meat glistening on a forkful of hot pasta. _It never looks like that out of the can, _he thought, choosing to focus on something other than Max as she moved around; her clothing showing off all her angles and curves perfectly, as if they'd actually been tailored.

"Don't call me honey, honey." she said with her usual dry tone. She chunked a battered loaf of bread on the counter and then a tin can of spam beside it. "And I'm making sandwiches."

_I hate spam - one of the worst inventions of humankind_.

"And…" she held up a gorgeous red and silver cardboard carton with six lovely brown glass bottles clanking together, "I offer this to wash it down."

_Music to my ears_. "Thank god." Alec said lightly, but the small lift around Max's full lips pulled his heart down into the pit of pain that seemed to be getting deeper each second. "I'm gonna go get big guy so he can wash up - he's probably multi-colored by now." Alec said; making his escape before Max saw through him. _Damn, why was it so hard to keep that wall in place_? _She doesn't want to see behind it anyway_.

--

The bread was old, the spam was fatty, and the lettuce wilted. But hey, what else could you expect in the post-Pulse world. _Good beer_. Alec nursed his second bottle out on the back porch, drawing out the bitter, tingling taste that was so sweet on his tongue. No, he couldn't get drunk due to his X5 metabolism, but there was still some enjoyment to be had of the alcohol - what that was, was undefined.

He heard the screen door open, and a very familiar footstep hesitate for a second on the threshold, before stepping out onto the wooden platform, and up to the railing about five feet from where he was standing. She'd not expected him out here, and she'd wanted to go back when she had seen him. An unseen knife twisted in his gut.

"Nice night." she said softly, uncomfortable and trying to mask it.

"Yup." Alec said, taking a swig of amber liquid, trying to swallow the pill of regret sticking to the back of his throat. From the corner of his eye he could see her switch the bottle back and forth between her hands in a miniscule fidget.

"I'm sorry, Alec." she said suddenly, breaking the hush. Alec only glanced at her as her shoulders lifted in a shrug and she looked at the bottle in her hands. "It's me…it's my screwed up mind, it's not…you."

_One of the oldest let down lines in history_. He couldn't help thinking bitterly.

"Manticore doesn't program for relationships." she added.

_Yeah, blame it all on the bad guys_. But he knew it was true. He knew it wasn't really her fault - hell, no one chose to be alone…did they?

"It's ok, Max." he said, finally turning to her, "You don't have to apologize to me; I understand." He kept the pain from his eyes; he had to be strong - for both their sakes.

Those brown eyes turned to him, so soft that they tore him to shreds, and he steeled himself from kissing and punching her at the same time. _Cupid's a bitch_. She tried to smile, but it was only her lips that turned up.

"When did you get so mature?" she meant the question but said it in a light way, as if they were the old Alec and Max, double trouble, transgenic duo.

_We can't do that, Max - I can't do that_. "Oh, you know, ladies love the sensitive type." _But I'll play along_. She gave a nod knowingly, and Alec saw her swallow and wondered what pill she was taking. He felt a crumpling sensation in his chest as his soul seemed to whither in the dark of the evening - as she completely severed his hopes by trying to restore the bare scrap of friendship they'd managed to build. _Before I had to go and blow it away by falling in love with her_.

"Well," he toyed with the bottle in his hand, swirling the remaining sip of beer around, "I think I'll turn in - Us sensitive men need our beauty sleep." He hesitated, hoping she'd say, 'wait, I don't mean it, I don't wanna be just friends, I love you too', but all she did was nod and say,

"Night, Alec." accepting his retreat. _Probably relieved_. Alec didn't hesitate another second, his strength drained by the strain on his heart, he went in and closed the door, stopping and downing the rest of his drink before plunking it into the garbage can. The gulp wasn't sweet so much as it was bitter now. _Ruined_.

--

Max ran along the path towards the lake. She didn't even realize she was crying until the sobs choked her and she had to stop to catch her breath. Leaning against a tree she cried; muffling her sobs into the sleeve of her shirt. She hated it; the weight, the pain, that casing of iron around her heart that kept her from feeling. Manticore had trained her to put it there, but she'd kept it in place after she'd escaped because the fear of being caught - of being betrayed - pounded in her with every beat. She'd done it to protect herself, so she could help her brothers and sisters; she'd done it so she'd be strong. Now… now it turned out to be one of her greatest weaknesses. _Turned and bit me in the ass_.

Tears ran down her face as she turned and laid back against the tree, looking up into the branches that made a canopy over her head. Manticore had done their job well; on the field she was a well oiled machine. But in the real world, the one that really mattered, she was a handicap.


	2. Chapter 2

**Proven**

By Aranel du Lac

II. Saving Guile

A stripe of red across a background of greens, blues, and browns. Joshua stood looking at his painting as crimson paint dribbled down from the end of his brush and over his hand so that it dripped onto the floor. He took a step forward, smearing the droplets across the concrete as he lay the brush down; satisfied with his work. He picked up a smaller brush, dipped it in black and prepared to sign his name to the bottom corner.

As he leaned in towards the canvas, he paused, his nose starting to twitch as it picked up a scent. He looked up at the ceiling, trying to place it.

"Alec." he said, and, turning around, saw the other transgenic standing at the foot of the stairs. His hair was mussed from sleep, but his eyes were dark; betraying his lack of rest.

The tall dog-man scampered over to him excitedly and looked back at his painting.

"Alec like?"

Alec looked at the picture. The red stripe stood out as violent against the peaceful medley of the other colors - lost and out of place.

"It's great, big guy." he said, clapping the seven foot dog-man on the shoulder in his usual greeting, without the usual enthusiasm. With a smile the artist scampered back over to his canvas and once again prepared to sign it. Alec ran a hand over his face, trying to wipe off the feeling of despair that was draped over him as he took the chair that sat in one dusty corner, deciding to watch the big man work for a while - anything to keep his mind off of Max.

"Where little fella, Alec?"

_No such luck_, "She's out for one of her swims." Alec grumbled; a muscle in his jaw ticking as his heart contracted painfully in his chest.

Joshua turned and looked at him, concern in his soft brown puppy eyes, ever intuitive.

"What bother Alec?" he asked.

Alec put a clamp on his emotions, reassuming the Manticore guard that he'd laid down sometime last night as he lie in bed. _Thinking of Max_.

"Nothing." he said.

Joshua was good at reading people - even X5s - and he didn't push the unseen line that Alec's nonchalant tone had drawn. He gave a small shrug to himself and turned back to his signature, the characters resembling that of a child despite his care.

Alec stared at the painting, his attention drawn to the stripe. It was bold and thick; strong - but all alone, and it seemed dwarfed and meaningless against that melded expanse of blue and green, so unified and perfect.

"How do you get someone to trust you?" he asked. He hadn't even thought through the action of asking the question that weighed so heavily on his heart, before the words were on his tongue and out his mouth. He winced a little as Joshua's brush stopped.

Joshua turned to Alec, studying him for a moment, the wheels in his head turning.

"You don't hurt them." He said as he resumed perfecting his 'h'.

"What if you already did - more than once?" Alec was looking off past the dog-man and the painting, into the past and everything and every time he'd messed something up for Max. "Can they ever trust you again?" the question was quieter, more to himself than anyone else as he tried to rationalize an answer from the limited experience he had with real relationships.

Joshua looked at the colors swirling on the canvas and thought.

"You don't do it again." he said simply; innocent of how heavy his answer would be on the transgenic's shoulders.

"People aren't perfect, Joshua." Alec barked with irritation, knowing how impossible it would be for him to _never_ hurt Max again. "Not even Manticore's transgenics."

Joshua looked surprised and hurt by the transgenic's angry outburst and Alec felt guilt heap up on him. _See_. But before he could even think to apologize a voice cut in,

"But they're close."

Both Alec and Joshua whirled round to find four strange men on the steps that led down into the basement. The one in the front was tall and fit, and definitely a Manticore agent - it oozed from his every pore. Behind him were three Manticore produced soldiers; their eyes set on the two of them, the unmistakable look of the predator in them.

_Oh, fuck._

--

The water was cool and soothing, calm and clear. But even under the sheltering layers of water, she couldn't stop thinking of Alec and the weakness he'd exposed - fear. She dove down into the water, going deeper and deeper; counting the seconds, hoping to escape her own thoughts – those that had been plaguing her since Alec had told her he loved her – since she had pushed him away. Her feet touched the bottom. A transgenic could hold their breath for ten minutes - she closed her eyes and counted up to 540 seconds, pushing away all other thoughts. _The way to ignore one pain is to focus on another, _a technique Manticore had taught her. She concentrated on her lungs. A few more minutes passed and they were burning. She thought of Alec. She stayed under, willing herself to panic, to flush him out of her system, to replace her fear of betrayal and loss with that of death.

She felt her pulse quicken, the adrenaline rush into her blood, her muscles contracting as her lungs burned and throbbed for air. _Alec_ … _Not yet_. Would she ever get over this? Could she just forget about loving him – loving anyone – and cut herself off?

Honestly?

No.

_I'm screwed_.She felt the walls closing in around her as her heart hammered against her chest – begging to be free. She had to have air, she had to change something; something had to happen - in more ways than one. She opened her eyes, starting for the surface – But someone grabbed her from behind!

She struggled against the grip, managing to turn and face her attacker. It was a him - a hulking him, and he had her by the shoulders. Instinctively she grabbed his thick neck, pressing down on his windpipe with her thumbs, but her oxygen deprived muscles were weaker than normal. She squirmed, kicking her legs, but it was no use. The guy had hands that weighed a ton each, and his thickset muscular build was like a rock in the lake; holding them down. Max shook her head; pressure was building around her brain as it struggled to live. She was about to pass out. _I'm about to die_. Memories flashed through her mind, Zack, OC, Logan…Alec. _Hell no!_ She squeezed on his throat, using every bit of her strength, but it didn't seem to faze him. She felt her eyes rolling back in her head, her conscious slipping, and then…

Gasp!

She sucked in a breath of air, water and tears streaming down her face, her hair plastered to her head, the big guy behind her; one arm around her shoulders, the other around her waist. She tried to tell her body to fight back, but it was still recovering and she could only hang there like a limp balloon.

"Good work, 512. Good work." A voice spoke from the lakeside.

_512...holly shit, Manticore_. Her blurry vision began to clear and she could see a man, mid thirties, in black, standing on the shore, with a few others coming from the trees and bush to join him. They were unmistakably X5 - and they had Joshua! Max told her brain to struggle, to help her friend, but her movements were that of a goldfish on the kitchen floor - floppy and useless. One more stepped from the trees and Max felt a sharp pain in her chest. _Alec_. They didn't hold him, he wasn't being forced to come, and he even had his cocky swagger. _He's betrayed us - I knew it!_ But as much as Max Guevara liked to be right, this was one time, deep down, she wished she wasn't. Really. She felt anger sweep through her body, but stronger and more debilitating was the pain that squeezed her newly gotten oxygen from her lungs. _It was all an act, a ploy. He got me good, didn't he. How could he?_

"Now, 'Max'," she turned her attention back to the Manticore sleaze that stood not ten feet away from her. "494 - or 'Alec' as you call him - has been smart enough to cooperate," _No, stupid enough. Wait till I get to him. _"I hope that for your sake, and for the sake of your friend here," the X5 holding Joshua tilted a blade against the dog-man's neck so that it glinted in the sun, "you will too."

"Fuck you!" she spat, pulling against the heavy arms that held her. The Manticore agent laughed - an empty sound of no amusement, only malice.

"Very charming. Very charming…But seriously, Max, do you really want your friend to die just because you wouldn't listen?" His eyes were a cold grey, they reminded her of the walls and doors of Manticore - heartless. "Now, why don't you just make it easier on _all _of us, and come here where we can discuss this." He gave a nod to 512 and the transgenic's grip around Max's waist tightened as he hauled her out of the water.

Max kicked at him, but her bare feet didn't make a dent in his solid abs, and he simply plopped her onto the ground, hard, knocking the wind out of her. He knelt over her, putting a knee between her shoulder blades and pinning her arms down, as he pulled her head up by the hair, just so she could look into the Manticore agent's face as he knelt down in front of her - the smug smile on his face just begging to be punched off. _Just one hit_.

"Now, isn't that better?"

Max snarled at him, the knee of the two hundred plus pound X5 digging into her spine.

"What do you want?" _Besides my foot up your ass_.

"Much better…I want you to tell me about your friend, Eyes Only?"

_Logan_? Max shot a glance over at Alec, _He could've told 'em about Logan_.

"I don't know what you're talkin' about." But as soon as she said this the X5 pulled her head back, threatening to pop her trachea out of her throat.

"Max…" the Manticore agent said her name warningly.

"Why don't you ask him - Mr. Helpful." she shot a look at Alec that would've killed him had such a feat been possible. The transgenic's face told her nothing.

"We want more than a name and address. We want a list of his contacts and operations he's been involved in." the agent said. She looked back at him.

"That's all you want - If I tell you that you'll let me and my friend go free?" _Only one friend here_.

The Manticore agent gave another empty laugh,

"You really don't think we'd do that, now would you, Max?"

_No_. "Then why should I tell you shit?" she snarled.

The man's eyes glinted darkly for a moment. He looked up over at Joshua and 512 automatically turned Max's head so that she could see the X5 holding Joshua give him a shallow cut along the side of his neck - promising more. The dog-man growled but it came out as more of a whimper.

Max pushed back the tears of anger that burned her eyes as 512 twisted her head back around, giving an extra yank to her hair.

"Son of a bitch." she muttered hotly, her eyes stinging.

"We're not playing games here, Max. You get us the information we want, and we'll take you back to Manticore and you can live the life you were made to live."

Max gave a derisive snort.

"Yeah, right. I think I'd rather die." she managed as the X5 pulled her head back farther and applied more pressure to her spine. She saw little white dots.

"Do you really think you have the right to choose death for your friend when you could just as easily save him?" The Manticore agent had 'the tone' down. It was that perfect blend of psychiatrist and murderer that just messed with your head. Max wanted to tell him to go fuck himself again.

"Just do what he says, Max." Someone said before she could. It was Alec.

She looked over at him, disbelief and anger in her eyes and that white hot pain in her chest. _How could you? I should have known what you were. I was just too…Stupid and blind! _

"Your friend has a point." the tone said.

"He's not my friend." Max bit, still looking at Alec, lacing her words with the venom his betrayal had injected into her heart, "He's nothing." She didn't see a flicker of any emotion in his eyes. _Manticore to the bone. He's not Alec, he's 494_. "And I won't tell you anything." she assured the agent, fixing his cold grey stare with her hot brown one.

The muscles of his right temple contracted, and she saw him grind his teeth a little.

"Very well, 516, come help loosen Max's tongue up." with this command 512 hoisted Max onto her knees as the third X5 stalked over to them.

Max fixed him with a glare and gave a smirk.

"Show me what you go-" The punch brought blood immediately as Max's lip spit against her teeth. She spat it out and looked back at 516, her look saying what her numb mouth couldn't formulate. He did the other cheek, and there was a ringing in her ears. _Damn he punches hard!_

"That your best?" she goaded. "I thought us X5s were supposed to be -" He hit her in the gut, and she wanted to double over, but 512 wouldn't let her as another punch came to her face, and then the other side. 516 must have stepped back, she couldn't really tell though, her vision was swimming. She smirked, and could feel the movement pull on the cut that was somewhere on her lip; increasing the flow of blood leaking down her chin.

"Got anything you want to say, 452?" the agent asked.

"It's Max!" she hissed. The Manticore agent nodded to 516 and he stepped back over.

"Wait." She recognized the voice - Alec. "Let me - I know her weak points."

_Sure as hell do, you bastard!_ She saw him stride over, and as he looked down at her she wondered where those soft hazel eyes that had told her he'd loved her had gone.

"I shoulda known." she croaked, her throat dry, her stomach sick.

"What?" he asked stoically,

"That you were lying." for a second she questioned if she'd seen pain in his eyes. _No, he feels nothing_.

"Yeah, Max, you shoulda known." She saw his muscles gear for a blow, and she tried to shield her heart. _**This**__ was gonna hurt_.

She heard the sound of a fist contacting flesh, but she didn't feel it. She wondered what had happened. She opened her eyes that she'd automatically closed as his fist had come towards her, and she saw 516 going for Alec. Her brain scrambled, but instinct took over reason and she took the opportunity presented. Rearing her head back she broke 512's nose, and as his grip loosened, she turned, jumped to her feet, and kicked him in the groin. He keeled over and as Max kicked him in the face and into oblivion, as she saw Joshua bite the X5 holding him captive on the wrist and break out of his grip.

She turned to see Alec knock out 516, while the Manticore agent – nose bloodied and broken – aimed a small shiny revolver at him. Without thinking, she sprinted to him, her leg coming up as he turned the gun on her, and she caught him under the chin. Even as the bullet roared out of the barrel she heard his neck pop and break and he fell to the ground - dead. Ignoring the pain in her leg she turned to help Joshua. Yet Alec had beaten her to it, and she saw him finish the guy off as he introduced him to an oak tree's trunk, leaving a smear of red on the bark. Tossing the guy's limp form to the ground, Alec turned around and faced her.

His face was flushed from the fight; his eyes were glimmering with anger…emotion.

_He saved us_. As Max realized this and everything it meant she tried to give him a smile, but it turned into a grimace as pain shot up from her leg. She looked down at the offending limb to find that it was soaked – with her blood. Apprehending the severity of the wound on her thigh, she felt her head go light and her legs go soft, like she was standing in air. She looked up at Alec.

"Max!"

--

He hated hospitals - the white walls, the bland food, the beep of machines. It was too much like Manticore to be funny. But he stayed. He stayed all night, allowing them to siphon some of his blood into a little plastic bag and then hook it up via a small hose to Max's arm. Her femoral artery had been nicked by the bullet and she'd lost two and a half quarts of blood before they'd gotten her to the hospital - despite the tourniquet Alec had made out of his belt. _Nick indeed_ – and he stayed up into the afternoon of the next day while she rested. He stayed cause he knew he couldn't sit at home and wait for Logan to call him and say she was alright, he stayed cause he had to be there when she woke, he had to see her eyes open again. He stayed because he loved her – whether she ever loved him back or not.

--

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. She shook her head, trying to shake the incessant beeping out of it, but it wouldn't go away. Beep. Beep. Beep. She tried to look around but she couldn't see anything. _Idiot, your eyes are closed_. Why hadn't she known that? She told herself to open her eyes. Her lids fluttered, and little purple and green dots speckled the white background as her pupils dilated and contracted, getting used to the light. Beep. Beep. Beep. She turned her head towards the sound and saw a machine with little buttons and a green line running across the screen, making little mountain outlines as it went along. She looked past the beeping machine and saw a white wall and a window with white blinds on it. Outside she could see building sprawled one after another. _Seattle. _She looked back at the machine. _I'm in a hospital in Seattle…Why am I in a hospital_? She ran a check, mentally feeling each limb and digit, contracting the muscles.

"Ouch." she winced slightly as pain flared in her right leg.

"Max?" She turned towards the voice and saw Alec sitting beside her bed. "You ok? Do I need to get the nurse?"

"No." _She could take a little pain damn it_. "Just know I'm alive." she gave a slight smile, as she tried to recall exactly what happened to her leg.

"You caught Darren's bullet." Alec filled her in.

"Darren?"

"The Manticore agent, Logan checked his ID. You know, before he and Josh dumped those guys in the middle of nowhere." That was the only thing that could have gotten him to leave Max's side – to beat the crap out of those guys again – but Alec was busy getting 'drained', so Logan had offered to take care of it, saying he knew the perfect place.

"Oh." Max looked towards the white wall opposite the head of her bed. It was blank and white. _Since when did they get rid of those wonderful little TV's and those generic floral portraits? _She was trying to avoid Alec. Again. She had judged him - harsh too. She'd immediately believed that he'd betrayed them - her. _Man, I'm bad at this_. She must have hurt him too; he sat there so quietly now. She slightly wished that he wasn't there. She was sure that she looked just lovely, plus, and more importantly, she felt bad - guilty even. How was she going to fix this? _Apologize_. Well, he deserved an apology, but it was more; she owed him more than that. _He was right - I was wrong_. He deserved to hear that...at least this one time.

She looked over at him. He sat in the little uncomfortable wood and vinyl hospital chair as he looked towards that same blank wall. He had some stubble on his jaw, he hadn't shaved. _He's been here that long?_ And his clothes were rumpled, a bandage peaking out from under the sleeve of the light blue t-shirt he was wearing. _When had he gotten hurt?_ She looked down at her arm and saw the intravenous needle sticking out of it, and then looked up to see a little bag hanging there, empty. She'd needed blood – an X5's blood…_Alec_. She felt the weight of guilt on her chest get a little heavier. _Great_. But stronger still, she felt a warmth and a straining in her chest as her heart reached out to the transgenic sitting in the god-awful uncomfortable chair beside her. She wanted to love him, she wanted to trust him, but she couldn't…Could she? After what had happened back there? She really already knew the answer.

"Alec,"

Those hazel eyes swept over to her, and, as they met hers, Alec had to remind himself to stay in his chair before he kissed her slightly swollen and bruised mouth.

"Yeah?" he cleared his throat.

"You were right." she said.

His brows crinkled. Was Max telling him he was right_? That'd be the ninth world wonder_.

"About what?"

Max swallowed back the fear that tried to halt her next words. She ignored the voices in her head that screamed 'no, don't do it! You'll get hurt. You're opening up. You're going to be weak.' And she found her own.

"I can trust you."

**The End**

**AN: **Hope that you guys enjoyed it. Thank you for all your kind reviews, they were really encouraging and I found myself needing that, so thanks and hugs.

Till next story...


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